U.S. Customs and Border Protection is cracking down on Canadians entering the American side of Peace Arch Park due to an increase in illegal border crossings around the park.
Traditionally, both Americans and Canadians have been able to enter and recreate in both sides of the international park without going through a border crossing, as long as they return to the side they came from.
Now, Canadians are now no longer able to enter the park through 0 Avenue in South Surrey — the road that lines Peace Arch Park on the Canadian side, said Jason Givens of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. They now must go through the Canadian side, and even then, are not permitted past the bathrooms on the American side.
Givens, a public affairs specialist, said if people coming from the Canadian side of the park want to access the “upper state park area,” they must go through the border crossing and be inspected by an agent.
Givens said Border Patrol is “dedicated to preserving the legacy and traditions of Peace Arch Park while also preventing transnational criminal organizations from exploiting the park to gain illegal entry into the United States.”
There has been a notable increase in “encounters” at the border in Blaine, when a noncitizen encounters a border agent and is declared inadmissible or is expelled, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
In the 2022 fiscal year, Border Patrol agents in the Blaine sector had 407 encounters, and in 2023 had 1,489. So far in fiscal year 2024 (from October 2023 to April 2024), there have been more than in the previous year: 1,732.
When asked about the number of people who have specifically exploited Peace Arch Park to enter the country, Givens said he did not have that data.
Peace Arch Park centers around the Arch, located on the border in the park. It was built to commemorate the centennial of the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812, according to the Peace Arch Park Association. The park serves as a symbol of peace between the two nations and allows people from both countries to gather.
Bob Christy is a 40-year resident of 0 Avenue in South Surrey.
There’s a ditch between the road and the park, but Canadians have long been able to cross and use the park, as long as they come back into Canada when they leave the park.
Christy said when his kids were young, they used to jump the ditch and play games and sports in the park. It was quite quiet, he said, until the pandemic, when cross-border families and friends used the park to meet their loved ones across the border when the U.S.-Canada border was closed.
Now the park is empty again, and the field right across from Christy’s house is no longer accessible to him, unless he goes through the border crossing.
“It’d be a shame if they put a fence up,” he said.
Charlotte Alden is CDN’s general assignment/enterprise reporter; reach her at charlottealden@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 123.
